Tuesday, November 12

DO you bore of long cold days in your 35th scale tank staring at things in the distance and maybe
pointing at the horizon? Fancy something a little different in your German
tanker set? What about some a nice dinner al-fresco? Verlinden has something on
their menu you may like…

There are lots of figure/ diorama sets of German tankers
from WWII on the market. Some in almost propaganda poses, but most hanging out
of their vehicles leaning off to the side – riding on to victory! …or defeat.

The resin:This new 1/35th scale set from Verlinden contains 90 parts in cream
resin and it depicts two German tank men having a good old cook up outside in
the open air.

The resin is largely bubble free but there is one or two on the thinner parts. These
are easily filled with some superglue and they do not affect any areas of
detail. There were only five of six in the whole set so it is almost not worth mentioning.

The parts come attached to some casting blocks which are removed fairly easily.
Indeed some of the excess resin is so thin it comes off with the fingers and
can be cleaned up with a hobby knife. I spent an hour or two while I was
watching a movie with my other eye cleaning them up with nothing more than my
hobby snips and a knife. A little wash +
some primer and you are ready to paint. I put together an injection moulded
accessory set the other day with about the same amount of parts and it took twice
as long and it was much more fiddly than this.

The contents of the set:
This set brings us a feast of food all in one set, from crates stuffed with
food , sausages, bread buns, apples, cabbage, lettuce, peaches – you can see
them all here in beautifully cast resin.

That isn’t all – there is a big block of cheese and a big
knife to go along with it, several tins of canned fruit, thin rolls of bread,
bottles and packets of food – this is going to be a feast!

There are two tankers of course – and I think they are
probably talking about dinner! Both wear panzer uniforms and one holds a
carving knife whilst the other one is probably saying “where is my tea?” Cleverly
added by the creators is the addition of two jackets of the panzer men in a way
that they are seen hanging off a point – the jackets hang down beautifully.

The man doing all the cooking!

The man doing all the complaining - check out his facial expression!

There are several bits of equipment as well – German “jerry”
cans, several canvas packs and sacks, a bucket half full, there are two small
mess containers and a large circular cooking tin as well as the soldier’s
personal equipment – gas masks binoculars

And I could go on – but ill finish it here. For the value and the ease of construction
they are getting close to unmatched. The figures are great and with a little
bit more life than most figures of their ilk – they will be picked up by the
smarter modellers out there who want a bit of difference to their diorama. The
food in the boxes was particularly delicate and well sculpted and cast.

Here it is all laid out and ready for painting - what a smorgastboard!